"It's no longer good enough, or acceptable, for the federal and state governments to keep writing out cheques to replace the same sections of the same roads that were flooded out two years ago, probably 10 years ago, and many times over the last 50 years," he said.

"We've got to do things better."

It is not yet clear how flood victims will respond to the idea, but with the damage bill at almost $2.5 billion, change is coming.

Mr Newman is calling on federal and local governments to support a new way forward, and says new infrastructure should be built to withstand natural disasters.

"It's about trying to build things to better standards, to get them out of the flood waters, to actually build levees in certain towns, to relocate sections of communities, as they did with Grantham last time," he said.